Indulging in ink

An Afternoon at the Roadworks Festival

On Rhode Island Street in the Do.Re.Mi arts district in San Francisco, a diamond “Road Closed” sign greets me and signals the beginning of the annual “Roadworks” art festival. I am handed an obnoxiously neon yellow brochure, and as I squint over the black words, I hear excited chatter. I look up to see puffs of smoke rise from inside a crowd of people. A lacquered, teal steamroller the size of a compact car slowly rolls seven tons of concentrated pressure over a meter-long carpet of protective fabrics, paper, linoleum block, and wood planks. This intense process concludes with a highly choreographed flurry of people crouching over to carefully peel the slightly warped paper off the block and present it to the applauding crowd. Meanwhile, others backstage pour more coal into the steam engine and aggressively ink a new linoleum block to shuttle back to the stage for the next performance. The final result is an intricate black and white relief print of two children flying over the ocean and Captain Hook’s ship to Neverland. 

Although this year is the anticipated 25th anniversary of the San Francisco Center for the Book (the organization that hosts “Roadworks”) this festival includes no pompous fanfare, and instead exudes a feeling of warmth and pride at the resilience of art in the Bay. Families push strollers with small children and weave through crowds to get a better look at the different crafts and activities their children can learn to make. Returning artists greet long-time attendees with big smiles and warm hugs. They share enthusiastically about their work and progress after enduring long periods of separation. Volunteers bring stools for children to stand on and print their own tiny pieces, and young artists hug sketchbooks and draw the festival scenes. Wrapped up in this lively celebration of art is the long and nuanced history of printmaking.  

While this festival uses an unconventional printing press that treats the street as its platform, traditional printing is transferred with hand-powered machines. Originally used to reproduce religious texts, printing presses have taken on a new role in the fine arts. Printmaking not only requires an eye for monochromatics, but also requires skills in sketching, carving, inking, and transferring. The heavy wait (weight) that comes from the multi-step printing process produces a stamp that an artist uses time and time again, whether producing fine art, pop art for tote bags and simple t-shirts, or printing as a means of disseminating instruments of social change. 

Artist Katherine Wilson uses her art as a way to shed light on the conservation of the critically endangered northern white rhinoceros through a colorful collaborative art piece “The Rhinoceros Project.” Wilson describes her “responsibility to make a better world” through her art, as well as through the art classes she teaches at Stanford and San Jose State. She tells aspiring artists to “go with the weird,” to lean into your quirks and passions for the most impactful work. 

Coming after a long period of hardship for many, this festival is a sign of new beginnings. It marks an emergence from isolation and a place to reignite passion for community participation in art. Roadworks is a symbol of the resilience of people and the drive of artists to share their craft and message with others. Celebrating printmaking’s rich history, Roadworks serves as a (literal) down-to-earth experience of creating and enjoying relief prints.  

Words: Sophie Yang

Photos: William Fei